International Qualifications for Udaipur’s School Going Children

With tremendous growth now parents of Udaipur can afford international qualifications for their school going children. Especially those who are planning to send their children abroad for higher education. Unfortunately at present there is no school offering international qualifications in Udaipur, but IB and IGCSE are quite common options the parents of Udaipur recognizing now. Presently these curriculum’s are limited to elite class and upper middle class, as these curriculum’s demand for little higher fee structure.

International Baccalaureate, popularly known as IB (www.ibo.org), is running its programme in more than 100 countries since 1960. The IB Curriculum is designed as an academically challenging and balanced programme of education with international examinations that prepares students, for success at university and life beyond.

The IB curriculum is divided into three levels, PYP (Primary Year Programme) is for Primary years, MYP (Middle Year Programme) for middle school students and DP (Diploma Programme) for senior secondary level students. IB has gained recognition and respect from the world’s leading universities and boards.

The programme:

provides a package of education that balances subject breadth and depth, and considers the nature of knowledge across disciplines.

encourages international-mindedness in IB students, starting with a foundation in their own language and culture developed a positive attitude to learning that encourages one to become lifelong learner.

gains a reputation for its rigorous external assessment with published global standards.

emphasizes the development of the whole student–physically, intellectually, emotionally and ethically.

So far, India has 74 IB schools. IB curriculum is exclusive for children belong to upper middle class and the rich. Its fee structure is anytime higher than the RBSE and CBSE schools. Out of these 74 IB schools Rajasthan has just two schools offering IB Curriculum at present and a few are in the process to get affiliation. Interestingly these two IB schools claim that the fee in these schools is the least in India. They charge somewhere between Rs 1.5 to 2 lakh per annum. A few IB schools in Delhi and Mumbai charge as far as Rs 6 lakh to 9 lakh per annum.

IB students have an edge in appearing for exams like CET, PMT, IIT, BMS, CPT and CLAT. They are better equipped due to the in-depth self-study undertaken during the IB Programme. The assessment of students is done through internal tests, projects, portfolios, commentaries and essays. Even participation in community service is assessed.

The main highlight of this curriculum is that many universities in the UK and US award transfer credits to IB Diploma graduates. These credits could translate into saving from six months to a year during the undergraduate degree courses.

The Association of Indian Universities (www.aiu.org) recognizes the IB Diploma (Class XII) equivalent to plus two class of CBSE, ICSE and other state boards.

Cambridge International Examinations (www.cie.org.uk) is another famous international curriculum which is spreading at very fast pace in India. Like IB, CIE (Cambridge International Examinations) is also outspreaded in more than 120 countries; Cambridge International Examination is a part of Cambridge University UK.

The University of Cambridge International Examinations hands out various qualifications. For Primary level CIE offers CIPP (Cambridge International Primary Programme), for Middle school Secondary Level-1 and Level-2 are on offer which includes Checkpoint for Grade 8, for Grade 9 and 10 exams like IGCSE, O-Level and ICE. And for plus two level students CIE offer A-Level programme.

At present there are 254 CIE-affiliated schools in India, with around 8 of them in Rajasthan. These eight schools offer different Cambridge International Examination programmes like Checkpoint, IGCSE, ICE, O and A level Exams.

Its IGCSE programme is the most popular programme in the world among 14 to 16 year age group. The main highlights of this programme are wide range of subject options, division of each subject as per the learner’s capabilities as core and extended level, and the most interesting one is on gaining C grade or up, in English as first language or as second language, the IGCSE student needs not to get into TOEFL and IELTS Exams. IGCSE English with Grade C or up is widely accepted by all Anglophone countries like UK, US, Australia, NZ, Canada and SA.

IB and CIE Curriculums are becoming popular day by day in India and Udaipur is also becoming familiar with these terms. If you want to know more you can get in touch with these boards by visiting their websites WWW.IBO.ORG and WWW.CIE.ORG.UK.